Linux Mint Universal Edition is an open source desktop-oriented operating system, a special edition of the Linux Mint distribution that aims to bring a localized live system to non-English speaking users. It is built around the GNOME graphical desktop environment.

It’s distributed as a dual-arch Live DVD

The Universal edition of Linux Mint is distributed as a dual-arch Live DVD ISO image that will run on old computers supporting the 32-bit hardware platform, as well as modern 64-bit machines. The ISO image is hybrid and can be burned onto a DVD disc or written to a USB flash drive.

Supports a wide range of languages

From the Live DVD boot menu, you can boot the live system with support for a specific language. The distro supports a wide range of languages, including English, French, Spanish, German, Swedish, Danish, Romanian, Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, Korean, Norwegian, Slovenian, Catalan, Polish, Russian, Dutch, Greek, Japanese, Turkish, Serbian, Finnish, Czech, Hebrew, Bulgarian, Slovak and Hindi.

Live DVD boot menu options

In addition to the above boot entries, the Live DVD boot menu allows you to start the installer directly, check the integrity of the bootable medium (only if booting from a CD), perform a system memory diagnostic test, as well as to boot an existing operating system from the local drive.

Beautiful, traditional and familiar desktop

As mentioned, the Universal edition of Linux Mint is built around the GNOME desktop environment. which has been highly customized to look beautiful, traditional and familiar. It comprises of a single taskbar located on the bottom edge of the screen, from where users can access the main menu, launch applications, interact with running programs and access essetial system functions (shutdown, reboot, etc.).

Contains a vast amount of open-source software

Another interesting features is the inclusion of a vast amount of open-source software projects. Among these, we can mention the Mozilla Firefox web browser, Mozilla Thunderbird email and news client, Rhythmbox music player, Pidgin multi-protocol instant messenger and Transmission torrent downloader.

Linux Mint Universal Edition was reviewed by Marius Nestor, last updated on September 3rd, 2014